A statically generated blog example using Next.js and DatoCMS

This example showcases Next.js's Static Generation feature using DatoCMS as the data source.

Demo

https://next-blog-datocms.now.sh/

Related examples

• Blog Starter
• Sanity
• TakeShape
• Prismic

How to use

Using create-next-app

Execute create-next-app with npm or Yarn to bootstrap the example:

npm init next-app --example cms-datocms cms-datocms-app
# or
yarn create next-app --example cms-datocms cms-datocms-app

Download manually

Download the example:

curl https://codeload.github.com/zeit/next.js/tar.gz/canary | tar -xz --strip=2 next.js-canary/examples/cms-datocms
cd cms-datocms

Configuration

Step 1. Create an account and a project on DatoCMS

First, create an account on DatoCMS.

After creating an account, create a new project from the dashboard. You can select a Blank Project.

Step 2. Create an Author model

From the project setting page, create a new Model.

• The name should be Author.

Next, add these fields (you don't have to modify the settings):

• Name - Text field (Single-line String)
• Picture - Media field (Single asset)

Step 3. Create a Post model

From the project setting page, create a new Model:

• The name should be Post.
• Important: From the "Additional Settings" tab, turn on Enable draft/published system. This lets you preview the content.

Next, add these fields (you don't have to modify the settings unless specified):

• Title - Text field (Single-line String)
• Content - Text field (Multiple-paragraph Text)
• Excerpt - Text field (Single-line String)
• Cover Image - Media field (Single asset)
• Date - Date and time field (Date)
• Author - Links field (Single link) , and from the "Validations" tab under "Accept only specified model", select Author.
• Slug - SEO field (Slug), and from the "Validations" tab under "Reference field" select Title.

Step 4. Populate Content

From the Content menu at the top, select Author and create a new record.

• You just need 1 Author record.
• Use dummy data for the text.
• For the image, you can download one from Unsplash.

Next, select Post and create a new record.

• We recommend creating at least 2 Post records.
• Use dummy data for the text.
• You can write markdown for the Content field.
• For the images, you can download ones from Unsplash.
• Pick the Author you created earlier.

Important: For each post record, you need to click Publish after saving. If not, the post will be in the draft state.

Step 5. Set up environment variables

Go to the Settings menu at the top and click API tokens.

Then click Read-only API token and copy the token.

Next, copy the .env.example file in this directory to .env (which will be ignored by Git):

cp .env.example .env

Then set each variable on .env:

• NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_API_TOKEN should be the API token you just copied.
• NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET can be any random string (but avoid spaces), like MY_SECRET - this is used for the Preview Mode.

Your .env file should look like this:

NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_API_TOKEN=...
NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET=...

Step 6. Run Next.js in development mode

npm install
npm run dev

# or

yarn install
yarn dev

Your blog should be up and running on http://localhost:3000! If it doesn't work, post on GitHub discussions.

Step 7. Try preview mode

On DatoCMS, go to one of the posts you've created and:

• Update the title. For example, you can add [Draft] in front of the title.
• Click Save, but DO NOT click Publish. By doing this, the post will be in the draft state.

(If it doesn't become draft, you need to go to the model settings for Post, go to Additional Settings, and turn on Enable draft/published system.)

Now, if you go to the post page on localhost, you won't see the updated title. However, if you use the Preview Mode, you'll be able to see the change (Documentation).

To enable the Preview Mode, go to this URL:

http://localhost:3000/api/preview?secret=<secret>&slug=<slug>

• <secret> should be the string you entered for NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET.
• <slug> should be the post's slug attribute (you can check on DatoCMS).

You should now be able to see the updated title. To exit the preview mode, you can click Click here to exit preview mode at the top.

Step 8. Deploy on Vercel

You can deploy this app to the cloud with Vercel (Documentation).

To deploy on Vercel, you need to set the environment variables with Now Secrets using Vercel CLI (Documentation).

Install Vercel CLI, log in to your account from the CLI, and run the following commands to add the environment variables. Replace <NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_API_TOKEN> and <NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET> with the corresponding strings in .env.

now secrets add next_example_cms_datocms_api_token <NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_API_TOKEN>
now secrets add next_example_cms_datocms_preview_secret <NEXT_EXAMPLE_CMS_DATOCMS_PREVIEW_SECRET>

Then push the project to GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket and import to Vercel to deploy.